PET Wine Bottle Is An Airline First

A New Zealand PET bottle maker has developed what it says is the airline industry’s first PET wine bottle with a shelf life of 12 months.

New Product Post: 7/1/2005

A New Zealand PET bottle maker has developed what it says is the airline industry’s first PET wine bottle with a shelf life of 12 months. The 187-cc bottle, developed by Linkplas in Auckland for Montana Wines, weighs just 33 g vs. 154 g for the glass version. Air New Zealand achieves weight savings of more than 2 tons a day on its flights to and from Australia. Other airlines are expected to use the PET bottle later this year, according to Steve Morrison, Linkplas managing director.
The stretch-blown bottle was produced on an Aoki single-station machine (sold here by Aoki Laboratory America, Inc., Elk Grove Village, Ill.). The bottle shape is a modified version of the glass bottle and can run on standard filling lines. It is considerably heavier than similar-size PET bottles in order to maintain a glass-like appearance and withstand 150-kg topload pressure when the aluminum cap is fitted. In addition, a minimum wall thickness is necessary to provide adequate barrier. Morrison declined to disclose the barrier technology but said the monolayer bottle was manufactured utilizing a proprietary processing technique that optimizes the oxygen barrier of PET. Linkplas: +64 9-444-3691/www.linkplas.com • Aoki: (888) 638-2323/PTDirect: 662KH